The annual Christmas dinner and awards do is always an eagerly anticipated event on the Exmouth Harriers’ social calendar.

This year it was held in the Exmouth Rugby Club where a delicious buffet dinner, a quiz, some karaoke and a chance to strut their stuff on the dance floor kept the ‘70 odd’ party-goers entertained all evening.

The announcement and presentation of the annual awards was, however, the highlight of the night, with chairman Bob Keast presenting three different awards.

The ‘male athlete of the year’ award went to Scott Jordan: a very popular choice amongst voters as he has thrown himself into a strict training regime over the past year that has brought its rewards in terms of a collection of massive new PBs and some fine performances at local races.

He is also a stalwart team player and can be relied upon to sign his name up to any relay or team event supported by the club. Scott’s hard efforts were also rewarded via a successful bid for a London marathon place in the Exmouth Harriers’ club ballot. Very well done to him, and well deserved.

The ‘female athlete of year’ award went to Ellie Sutcliffe. Ellie only joined the Harriers in February of this year, having taken up running in 2010, so she was thrilled to have been selected for this award. Since joining the Harriers she has set numerous PBs, from 5k up to marathon distance, and has even won a few races in the region and further afield.

Despite working away in Dorset during term time she has tried to support the club at relay events whenever she is at home in Exmouth.

The final award of the evening was the President’s award. Unlike the other two awards, which are voted for by club members, this award is chosen solely by the Harrier’s president based on who he feels has made the biggest contribution to the club.

This year it was felt that Bob Woodhall was the most worthy recipient due to the huge amounts of time and effort he has dedicated in masterminding and developing the beginner’s running course.

The course lasted 12 weeks but thanks to Bob’s enthusiasm, support and encouragement, he then persuaded many of the graduate runners to join the club on a permanent basis and he has continued to mentor them ever since. He sacrifices his own weekly training run every Tuesday to do this and so the consensus was that Bob was a highly deserving candidate for this award.